J Chapman

The Coen Bros. meet Appalachia. First, I don’t know if this film was made as another “good-guy vs. bad-guy” showdown or a dark comedy. I suspect it’s both. The raccoon-eyed Andie MacDowell is superb as the sadistic, merciless “Big Cat,” queen of the manor and local drug trafficker who has run amok on her turf and has no foreseeable enemies to get in her way of big houses and even bigger money. Put “Groundhog Day” and “Muppets from Space” aside and get to know one of the most villainous characters ever brought to the silver screen. Of course everyone in town has been paid off, or most everyone, except the deputy sheriff, who is trying to find evidence of her misdeeds so he can forward it to the local district attorney. What happens to the deputy when Big Cat’s lackies capture and bring him to her mansion so that she can sink her claws into him gives box-cutters a new meaning. Then there is Cash, a good ol boy from the sticks who was once an enforcer for Big Cat until he changed his criminal ways but not before Big Cat and her henchmen stick his hand in a fire as if roasting marshmallows. The resulting red hand is his mark to remind him of former allegiances to Big Cat. Having sex with the hired hands is probably her most agreeable moment, or at least the closest she will allow herself a good time. Yes there is plenty of gore and violence worthy of the Coen Bros., but when it’s a woman dispensing her brand of justice, you can be a little forgiving as a female prison guard dispensing her brand of justice to keep the inmates in line….NOT.